Today we began the last and final leg of the trip: a four hour drive from Corolla to drop off the boys at Raleigh-Durham airport for their flight back home while Miss M and I drive to her university to get her moved into her off campus apartment.

During the car ride we had an opportunity to reflect on our trip. This trip was a lot more relaxing than our past few summer vacations: I didn’t need to intersperse work days into our vacation time (I didn’t bring a laptop yet both kids brought theirs!) And, we didn’t have a long list of things we wanted to see or do in any given location before moving onto the next.

We really enjoyed our Outer Banks experience. While I never got to kayak through the marshes, every beach we went to was tremendous, never crowded and the water was never too cold.

The weather on the Outer Banks was unpredictable. From town to town, the weather could be dramatically different and the forecast changed throughout the day. We never needed a sweater at night but it wasn’t so hot or humid that we couldn’t enjoy the outdoors.

The Outer Banks is not as crowded as the Cape, it doesn’t feel as commercial, and we never experienced long lines or wait times anywhere. The stretch of main road that runs from the town of Kitty Hawk to Nags Head was the most commercial and that makes sense as the two bridges to the mainland are in those towns.

Heading North, once you leave Kitty Hawk, the main road goes from four lanes to two, and there are wood carved signs indicating which town you are in. My favorite was the sign for the town of Duck.

After long school years, four out of state trips for work over the past two months, plus a long weekend in RI, we were ready for this vacation. We’re fortunate to spend time together like this every summer and blessed that our kids get along so well which makes traveling with them easy and enjoyable.

We’re already brainstorming plans for next summer. Where do you think we’ll head to next?